Colt DCS: 117MW data centre expansion in Germany
Author: Carly Weller
Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) has announced plans to develop four new data centres in Germany.
The four facilities will consist of Frankfurt 4 & 5 and Berlin 1 & 2. The two Frankfurt data centres will be built on an 18-acre site and provide a combined 63MW, while the Berlin data centres will be constructed on a 9.5-acre site and provide a total 54MW of IT capacity. Colt DCS is targeting first phase RFS (ready for service) at Frankfurt 4 and Berlin 1 by the end of 2028, with renewable power contracts already secured. The new data centres will add 117MW to Colt DCS’ capacity in Germany, bringing its total in-country capacity to 176MW.
The acquisitions in Frankfurt and Berlin, reinforce Colt DCS’ commitment to digital infrastructure in Germany, and represents a €2 billion investment in its economy. The move strengthens Colt DCS’ position in the Frankfurt market, which continues to be one of Europe’s leading data centre hubs. Berlin has emerged as a secondary market, driven by Germany’s digital transformation and increasing demand for cloud and AI services.
The new facilities will be designed to Colt DCS’ Global Reference Design (GRD) which can cater for both traditional cloud and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads, powering racks up to 130kW. To accommodate this, the design flexibly supports cooling by traditional air, direct liquid-to-chip and hybrid approaches.
Each new Colt DCS data centre in Germany will be constructed in line with environmental and sustainability policies using several low embodied carbon principles. This includes the installation of low Global Warming Potential (GWP) cooling chillers, reducing water waste for cooling, and building the structure with minimal steel and concrete usage.
Waste heat from all sites will be reused by the local councils for district heating. A fifth of the site areas will be reserved as green space, and the building roofs will feature a mixture of photovoltaic solar panels and planted vegetation.
Gert-Uwe Mende, Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden, says, “Wiesbaden is an attractive business location, and artificial intelligence is an absolutely future-oriented topic. I am therefore very pleased that Colt DCS has chosen the Landeshauptstadt (capital of the state of Hessen) as the site for its new data centre.”
Niclas Sanfridsson, CEO of Colt DCS, says, “The continued growth in digital services has created strong demand for hyperscale data centres in Germany. Our acquisitions in Frankfurt and Berlin are a testament to our commitment to Europe’s largest economy. We are proud to contribute to the growth of the local community and remain a trusted partner for our customers worldwide. These new sites will not only enhance our capacity to serve the increasing needs of cloud and AI workloads but also reinforce our dedication to sustainability and innovation in the data centre industry.”
